Trump v. the Fourteenth Amendment

David Cole on Birthright Citizenship ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Tomorrow, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the legality of President Trump’s executive order from last year that attempted to overturn the principle of birthright citizenship. In the Review’s April 23, 2026, issue, David Cole writes about “the merits of the case”—or lack thereof:  The issue pits a xenophobic administration against a well-established understanding that virtually all persons born here are US citizens regardless of their parents’ status. No lower court has sided with the Trump administration on the merits of the case. For the Supreme Court to do so would require it to repudiate the Constitution’s text, the Court’s own precedents, and the enduring understanding of all three branches and of the American people. But more than that, it would literally change our identity as a nation that welcomes all who are born here. Below, alongside Cole’s essays, are five articles from our archives about citizenship and immigration in the United States.   David Cole Born in the USA For the Supreme Court to accept the Trump administration’s attempt to revoke birthright citizenship, it would have to repudiate the Constitution, its own precedents, and the long-standing position of all three branches of the US government.   Sherrilyn Ifill How America Ends and Begins Again “The Fourteenth Amendment alone was a revelation. It was created to ensure citizenship for Black people, but in the process it promised something that existed nowhere else in the Western world: if you came to this country and had a child here, your child would be a citizen from the moment they were born.” —December 21, 2023   Atossa Araxia Abrahamian The Right to Belong Statelessness thus challenged conventional relationships between people, governments, and law: What did it mean to have people without citizenship? In the early decades of the twentieth century, jurists asked if the stateless might make a convincing case that individuals are the bearers of rights and duties because of their humanity, not the accidental circumstances of their birth. They wondered if individuals could become direct subjects of international law, even without being recognized as members of a nation, and what this might mean for legal nonpersons, like corporations. —December 17, 2020   Sarah Churchwell American Immigration: A Century of Racism Discussions of eugenics and other fascistic ideas in American history tend to provoke the defense that they never took root. But if they never took root, why do they keep flowering? —September 26, 2019   Joseph O’Neill Real Americans The West’s hostility to immigration is not only immoral, it’s self-destructive. —August 15, 2019   Pramila Jayapal A New Moral Imagination on Immigration In our country’s history, immigration has never been just about policy. It has always been about who we are and what we are willing to stand up for. —December 3, 2018   New Subscriber Benefit! Subscribers are now able to share unlocked versions of our articles with friends, family, and social media channels. When signed in to your account, look for this gift box icon in any of our articles.   Special Offer Subscribe for just $1 an issue Get the deal Politics   Literature   Arts   Ideas You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from The New York Review. Update your address or preferences View this newsletter online The New York Review of Books 207 East 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016-6305     Preferences  |  Unsubscribe

Get Inès Cagnati’s ‘Crazy Genie’ with the NYRB Classics Book Club

Sign up now for a one-year membership to the NYRB Classics Book Club to get $70 off the regular rate. As a club member, you will receive a newly published book from the NYRB Classics series in your mailbox each month. Each selection is handpicked by NYRB editors. Order by Wednesday, April 15, and we’ll begin your membership with Inès Cagnati’s Crazy Genie, translated from the French by Liesl Schillinger. Rich in observation and detail, it is a devastating portrayal of a child’s unconditional love and of society’s callous prejudices. As Sonya Walger writes of the novel, “The young narrator must interpret her elusive, impenetrable mother by paying vigilant close attention, and the result is a story of exquisite observation, taut with longing, in a landscape pulsing with terrors real and imagined. I held my breath until the final word.” Click here to sign up! You are receiving this message because you signed up for newsletters from The New York Review or New York Review Books. You can choose the types of messages you wish to receive: Update preferences   207 East 32nd Street New York, NY 10016-6305 Unsubscribe

A Dispatch from Tehran

Plus: Sinner and Alcaraz; Stars and Stripes; Firesign Theatre; Steve Stern; Medieval Smut ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Sponsored by Alta Journal   Today in The New York Review of Books: an anonymous dispatch from Tehran; Pablo Scheffer watches the new generation of tennis stars; Bill McKibben defends Stars and Stripes from Pete Hegseth; Andrew Katzenstein listens to Firesign Theatre’s comedy records; Cathleen Schine reads Steve Stern; Lauren Kane goes to the Cloisters to look at smutty medieval art; and, from the archives, Michael Kimmelman on Andre Agassi.   Anonymous From the Rooftops of Tehran We in Iran own our grief, mourning all by ourselves.   Pablo Scheffer The Tennissance Two young tennis stars have revived the sport by embodying the sort of athletic-aesthetic duality that made Nadal and Federer so fascinating.     Advertisement   Bill McKibben Syphoning Morale The attack on the independence of Stars and Stripes is a window into Hegseth’s unaccountable military.   Andrew Katzenstein ‘Not Insane!’ The Firesign Theatre, a comedy group formed in the 1960s, created surreal albums that mixed satire and science fiction, and inspired a generation of misfits.   Cathleen Schine The Possibility of Humor In his novel A Fool’s Kabbalah, Steve Stern writes in a manic whirl of disturbing and hilarious images as he follows the great historian of Jewish mysticism Gershom Scholem on his journey to gather up the remains of a vanished civilization.   Lauren Kane Indecorous Decorations Medieval ideas about sex and love, both rowdy and reverent, are recorded on objects meant for everyday use.     Advertisement   Free from the Archives In today’s newsletter, Pablo Scheffer writes about the end of the Nadal–Federer era of men’s tennis, and the beginning of a new marquee rivalry: Sinner–Alcaraz. A generation ago, in the Review’s June 24, 2010, issue, Michael Kimmelman looked back at the last epochal shift in the sport, when Nadal and Federer eclipsed Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras’s 1990s rivalry. Michael Kimmelman Deuce! The art of tennis, somewhat less obviously, depends on how players shape points by moving the ball around the court to make it arch and zig, devising patterns that from a spectator’s perch map crisscrossing lines. The fan’s pleasure, after a particularly good exchange of shots, stems from redrawing those lines as a memory, every point, like every creative mark on a page with a pencil, being slightly different. Within sameness, there is variety, artists have proved. Athletes have, too.   Recently in the Review Fintan O’Toole Signifying Absolutely Nothing Trump’s war of choice in Iran is a performance of horrific military strength that betrays a stark political weakness. Yi-Ling Liu Shenzhen Express “A chief feature of China’s engineering state is its ability to deliver one crucial thing: material improvements through public works.… Guizhou, though one of China’s poorest provinces, seemed to offer better infrastructure than America’s richest regions.”   Advertisement   New Subscriber Benefit! Subscribers are now able to share unlocked versions of our articles with friends, family, and social media channels. When signed in to your account, look for this gift box icon in any of our articles.   Special Offer Subscribe for just $1 an issue Get the deal Politics   Literature   Arts   Ideas You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from The New York Review. Update your address or preferences View this newsletter online The New York Review of Books 207 East 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016-6305       Preferences  |  Unsubscribe